Mistletoe
by DoubleKK
Summary: It was beyond cute. He was beyond cute, with flakes of snow in his hair and a small smile on his face. I felt like standing up and throwing my arms around him. But then I got an idea - a very evil, diabolical idea. MayxStu. Forgive lateness.


**Mistletoe**

DoubleKK

**A/N: Yeah, so I know this is a little late... OKAY A LOT LATE. But my internet was down and my daddy took away my laptop, so it's better late than never. But it's not too Christmas themed, trust me. Anyways... so this is another grown up MayxStu oneshot. I wasn't sure about writing it...but HmGirly convinced me that it wouldn't be overkill, so I went for it. I love writing for the character May. :) **

**Oh, and I realized I made a mistake with Sweet Sixteen. It wasn't until AFTER I had posted that I looked up her birthday, and it is supposed to be in Winter. Oh well. I don't like using the seasons, so I'm changing it to months, because I can :3. As much as I would like to use the pun of making her birthday in May, I am instead changing it to June 3****rd****. Any questions? Good. And Stu's shall be February 16****th****.**

**Oh, and sorry about the sucky title. I couldn't think of anything else, so.... Enjoy!**

"_Tis, the season to be jolly! Fa la la la la, la la la la! Don me now, our_-"

"Stu?"

"Mmm?"

"Shut up."

"Aw, come on May!" Stu said, skipping a few paces ahead of me on the cobblestone path. "Where's your Christmas spirit?"

"I have Christmas spirit. I just choose not to express it through off key carols." I replied, rolling my eyes. He just laughed, and slowed down for me to catch up. "So, what do you want for a present?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

I wasn't lying. I really didn't want anything. There was nothing you could buy in this town I really needed, and I told everyone to not order something special. Material items just weren't that important to me...what I wanted for Christmas definitely couldn't be wrapped.

Stu didn't believe me. "No, seriously."

"No, seriously." I said, mimicking his deep voice. "Nothing, I told you."

"Scrooge."

"Bah humbug." I joked. Stu poked me in the ribs, and I jumped back violently. "Hey, don't go there." I warned. He just smirked. "Why not?" he asked casually, poking me again. I stifled a shriek. "Maybe because you are...extremely ticklish?" He lunged at me, but I had already taken off down the street. I screamed when I looked back and saw he was chasing me.

Now, I know that you're thinking. Well, no, I don't, but I know what I'd be thinking if I saw some chick giggling and screaming while her boyfriend chased her. _What a whore._ Girls who try to act all innocent and cute in front of guys are highly annoying. (Well, I only know of one; Popuri. Ugh.) But let me tell you, I was _sprinting, _not playfully jogging away_. _I was, as Stu said, extremely ticklish.

I know I would have gotten caught anyway, Stu being male with a lot longer legs than mine, but I might have been able to put it off if I hadn't made a stupid detour to avoid running into Rose Square. I abruptly turned left to try to take refuge in the church yard, but found I couldn't make it unless I hopped the fence. In that second's hesitation, I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and start tickling mercilessly.

I know it was really dumb not to just run into the square. But that is where Mineral Town's 'gossip girls' gather for their daily rituals. And I didn't exactly want to run in there acting like a little slut. They talk about me enough already. That's another one of the problems of being the only kids of the same age in town; you get gossiped about frequently. And PDA is not a way to get them to stop.

Stu doesn't mind. "Let them say what they want. Why do you care so much?" he would always say when I mention this. To tell you the truth, I don't really know. I'm not ashamed of him, or anything. More like the opposite. But, it's just weird, ya know? We not just friends, because I highly doubt that friends go around making out at the Goddess Pond. And I'm not calling it friends with benefits. Ew. But the women at the square call us an 'exclusive couple', which I hate. It just seems like we are so much more than that.

Wow. That sounded like it came out of a cheap romance novel. Ugh.

So after much shrieking and pleading on my part, it wasn't until I grabbed a fistful of hair that Stu finally let up."That's enough." I growled playfully. "Promise to stop?" he nodded, and then winced as it pulled harder at his hair. "Goddess, why are you so violent?" Stu said after I released him, rubbing the spot where I had pulled at his roots. He hesitated. "Actually, it's kinda hot."

I scowled and pushed his shoulder roughly, but he only laughed. "Let's go. You're supposed to be walking me home, remember?" I said, trying to walk a few steps ahead of him, but ended up having to jog to get ahead of his long strides. He caught up easily. "Sorry." He said, casually taking me hand. "That was inappropriate."

"Pssh, you're a guy. I expect nothing less."

"So, you and you're grandpa are defiantly coming to dinner tomorrow, right?" It had become kind of a tradition that we always spend Christmas with Stu and his family. It had been extremely awkward when we weren't speaking. "Yup. Who else is coming?"

"Um, my sister, Tim, the kids..."

I groaned. "Both of them?" he nodded sombrely. "Oh, this is gonna be fun..." Tim and Elli had the brattiest children on the planet. One five year old named Leah who thinks she knows everything, and a three year old named Kyle who'll shove just about anything in his mouth and scream when you take it away. As you can expect, dinner with these two is very joyous.

"Oh well, it's Christmas Eve. Hopefully they'll be stuffing their faces with turkey."

We had reached the gate to house. "Hopefully." I said doubtfully. I reluctantly let go of Stu's hand and went to give him a kiss on the cheek, but he turned at the last second so I caught his lips. He grabbed my waist right away, but I just smiled against his mouth and pulled away. "Ha-ha, nice try. Sorry, but I have to go." He gave me a look that pointedly said, So? But I shook my head.

"Look whose coming." I said nodding in the direction of the square. Stu winced when he saw that is was Manna and Anna, walking down the path and shrieking with laughter. "Kay, fine, you win. I'll see you tomorrow night." He said with a wink, and then walked quickly down the path to avoid the two women.

I turned and practically skipped to my front door. Corny, I know. But I had the feeling in my stomach that I got usually after kissing Stu. Kinda like being tickled, but more pleasant than that. When I looked back, Manna and Anna had caught up to Stu and were chatting animatedly, while his shoulders looked slightly slumped. I grinned and entered the house.

Shortly after I walked in, I noticed that Grandpa was not downstairs as usual. I guessed he would be out visiting someone, or maybe in the barn with the cows. I shrugged to myself and went to the fridge to get juice. Then I heard calling from upstairs, "May? Is that you?"

"Yes, Grandpa." I yelled back, and then continued rummaging through old vegetables to find the juice carton. We really needed to organize this thing. "Sweet heart, you're mother is on the phone!"

_WHAT?! _I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I immediately dropped the old cabbage I was holding and raced up the stairs, not bothering to close the fridge. My mom hasn't called in a year and a half, and last time she had called to say happy to birthday to Grandpa three months late. But I wasn't thinking about that then. _She must have something important to tell me...like maybe she's coming back..._

"Oh yes, Joanna, she's right here." My grandpa said when I reached the top of the stairs, panting. I hurried over and practically snatched the phone from his hand. "Mommy?"

"Hi, baby! How are you?

I felt so happy, hearing my mom's voice again. "Hi, mommy. How come you haven't called?"

"I've been really busy, hon, you know that. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Okay." I l know I shouldn't have said it. I should have sit and listened to my mom's boring stories from the city like a good little girl. But the truth is, I've asked the same question every time my mom calls, and I always get the same answer. So it was basically normal, yet still really stupid, for me to blurt out, "When are you coming home?"

"Aw, hon." I knew it. I just KNEW it. Why did I even ask? Stupid May, stupid. "You know I'm very busy here in the city. I just don't have time to come home for Christmas. But you're almost old enough to come visit me, wouldn't you like that?" I said nothing. She said the visiting comment every time, too. I knew very well now that it would never happen. "Okay. So how are thing with your little friend? Have you made up yet?

"Yes. There fine." I said, trying to fight back the tears that were now prickling my eyes. _I set myself up for this. _"What's new with you?" I let her chatter on about her friends for a while, but I wasn't really listening. I let her talk just long enough for her to think that I actually cared, and then I said, "Sorry mom, but I have to go. Bye."

"Oh, really? Kay, talk to you soon baby."

I hung out without replying, and then let the tears spill over. _This is so typical of her..._ My grandfather immediately rushed over, but I shrugged him off. "I'm okay." I said, but my voice said to the contrary, cracking at the end. Grandpa only looked angry. "I told Joanna not to talk about herself so much. And calling this close to Christmas, after nearly two years! What did she say, sweet heart?"

"The usual." I sniffed. "I'm going to go take a walk, okay Grandpa." He frowned, but nodded. This was _my_ usual behaviour after a call from my dead beat mother. "Don't go too far, alright May? It's gonna be dark soon." I went back down the stairs without replying, trying to wipe my eyes.

I love my grandpa, I really do. He is more like a parent to me than my own mother, as you can probably see. I don't even know who my father is anyway...my mother still refuses to tell me. So basically, he was all I had, my grandpa. And I didn't mean to blow him off like that, but I really needed to be alone.

It was just starting to snow when I walked out of the farm. Normally this would have made me happy, but I was too upset to notice. I don't even know why I was so depressed about it. You'd think that after about eight years of rejection form my good for nothing mother, I would be able to start predicting this. I mean, she says the same thing every time she calls. Just when I think that I've accepted it, she goes and gets me all emotional again.

_She's never coming back._

I took a detour along a side street next to the Inn to avoid walking past Stu's house. I didn't want to seem like some crazy stalker girl, seeing as I had just seen him half an hour ago. I settled for sitting down on the bench nest to the Supermarket to sulk, brushing the snow off its seat first.

I never really liked winter. It's cold, wet, and there's never really anything to do. Sure, it's during the holidays, but that's about it. As I said before, material items don't appeal to me. And everyone is just too...cheery. Going around belting out annoying carols...ugh. Now, on the other hand, I LOVE snow. Snowball fights and snowmen where my favourite things to do when I was a kid, usually with Stu...too bad the snow only came for the first half of winter, and then the rain washed it all away. Hooray.

My thoughts were interrupted when Leah, previously mentioned as Tim and Elli's annoying daughter, ran up to me. _Oh, great. _I thought, when I noticed she was flanked by her younger brother Kyle. The toddler was currently scooping up snow and eating it. "Hey, May!" the girl cried when she reached me."Whatcha' doing?"

I held back an eye roll. "Nothing." I replied tiredly, trying to display that I was not in the mood to entertain children.

"Oh. Can I ask you a question?" Leah said, clearly ignoring my 'go away' vibes. Noticed that Kyle was now trying to fir his whole fist in his mouth, "Mmm."

"Are you and Uncle Stu sleeping together?"

"WHAT?!" I screamed, horrified at what had just come out of the little girls mouth. "Where did you hear that?!" I asked angrily. Whoever was going around saying that was going to regret it, that's for sure...

Leah wrinkled her nose. "I heard Miss Manna talking to him about it. I don't get what the big deal is. I mean, it's just sleeping, right?"

"Um, yeah."I said, trying to hold my temper. I couldn't believe it. _Stu_ was the one telling people we were sleeping together. But _why_? Did he think that it would get him some kind of status? Who the hell did he think he was? I was practically fuming as I got up from the bench and started walking briskly down the street. "Where are you going?" Leah whined.

"Nowhere."

"See, you're acting like it's a big deal too." she said, getting up and jogging to keep up with me. "Seriously. What's wrong with sleeping?" she said, rolling her eyes at my apparent cluelessness. I glared at her.

"Look, Leah. I need to talk to Stu. _Alone._" I said, putting emphasis on the last word. The little girl huffed and glared right back. "Fine." She said, and turned back to her brother.

I stormed up the street until I reached the two storey cottage where Stu lived. I didn't bother knocking, just throwing open the door with excessive force. I was lucking that Elle happened to be at the clinic with Elli, because I could have easily given her a heart attack. "Stu?" I called out tartly. I was going to keep my cool, I told myself. There is no need to overreact...

Stu emerged from one of the other rooms. He smiled when he saw me. "Hey, May. What are you-"

"What have you been telling people?!" I screamed. Well. So much for keeping my cool. "I have freaking five year olds coming up to me and asking if I'm sleeping with you!"

He looked surprised and almost scared at my outburst. "What? I never...what the hell are you talking about?"

"As if you didn't know." I spat. "Because of you, the whole town is gonna think I'm a whore! Why? Why did you even say it? It's not even TRUE."

"May, I-"

I didn't even let him finish. I knew I was _way _overreacting. Big time. But everything just kept spilling out of my mouth, and I was too angry to try and stop. And before I knew it, I was screaming out things I didn't even know had ever occurred to me. "I hate this stupid town! All anyone ever has to do is say bad things about other people! Want privacy? Nope, that's never gonna happen in Mineral Town! And I'm stuck here, waiting for my freaking mom to come back, when I know she never will!" Unfortunately, the language I was using wasn't quite as polite as 'freaking'. "I am so sick of it here!"

During this whole rant, Stu had been looking more and angrier and hurt with each sentence. At my final screech, he yelled, "I didn't tell anybody anything about us, okay? And if you're so _sick of me_, why don't you just leave!"

I barley took in what he said. "Fine." I said curtly, turning and stalking toward the door. Stu seemed to regret his words immediately, and reached out and grabbed my arm. "May, if you would just listen to me-"

"Look, I just need some time to think, okay?" I said, staring directly at his face for the first time. I could see hurt and guilt in his gray eyes. A pang of my own guilt shot though me, but I ignored it. I wrenched my arm out from his grasp and walked out the door without looking back.

I wiped the newly formed tears form my eyes as I walked down the path. You'd think I'd be all cried out by now, but no. I hated crying, and hardly ever did it. But this was just too much. I could handle my problems one at a time, but when the attacked me all at once... I just break down. There was a huge lump in my stomach, and it was making me want to puke.

I wandered aimlessly. I opted out going home, because Grandpa would try and comfort me about my mom, and would end up telling him about my fight with Stu. But I couldn't stay outside much longer. It got dark out early and the snowfall was increasing rapidly.

I settled on taking refuge at the Inn. A rush of warmth hit me as I opened its double doors, and I was surprised to see it was nearly empty. Ann was at the bar, looking bored, and Harris was sitting by himself in a corner with a cup of coffee. "Hey!" Ann brightened when she saw me, obviously happy that there was another customer besides the policeman, who appeared to be off in his own world. I liked Ann. She was easy to talk to, and never treated me like a child, despite the thirteen year age difference.

"Hi." I said, not bothering to hide my misery as I sat down on one of the bar stools. I knew I acting like an emo teenager, but was too tired to act otherwise. "What's wrong?" Ann asked right away, placing a mug of some kind of juice in front of me. I shrugged. "Hey, don't give me that." She said scowling angrily. Ann could be pretty scary when she wanted to. At about 5"10 with flaming red hair, she was pretty intimidating. "You come in here acting like the Grinch stole Christmas, and you expect me to believe it's nothing?"

"Well, it's not nothing." I admitted. "But it's not important. How about you? How's Cliff?"

Unlike my mother, she didn't seem to fall for attempts at changing the subject. "Bullshit." She said, ignoring the mention of her husband. "Tell me."

She said it with so much force and yet still managing to sound like she cared that I just ended up telling her everything. My mom calling, what Leah had told me, my massive temper tantrum. How all this negative emotion came bursting out of me, unfortunately at Stu. Ann just sat there patiently the whole time, occasionally raising an eyebrow but saying nothing. She reminded me of one of those therapists on television; I half expected her to say, "And how does that make you feel?" When I finally finished, she sighed.

"You've got a lot of problems, honey." She said sympathetically. "And I can relate to you about the thing with your mom. I know what that feels like. But I thought _my _life was complicated." She chuckled. "Any idea what you're going to do about this big ol' mess of yours?"

"Nope. And I'm afraid that if I try to figure it out, my head will explode."

"I hear ya. That feeling is no stranger to me."Ann said thoughtfully, rapping her fingers on the wooden countertop. "Is this you and Stu's first fight? As a couple, I mean." She added hastily, as I opened my mouth to remind her of 'The Incident' as I now liked to call it.

"Yeah. I feel horrible, because I realize now that he was telling the truth about not knowing about it. It'd bad enough that I spazzed at him, but now I'm too scared to face him." I flopped my head down on the counter between my arms. I had no idea what I could say to justify my behaviour. I had been a bitch, and I knew it.

"That really sucks. And just around Christmas time, too." Ann said sympathetically. "You know, you two used to be adorable when you were little. I remember this one time-you must have be about five or so- and it was Christmas time. You got this brilliant idea after discovering the use of mistletoe." I looked up. So far, I had no memory of this story. "So you managed to find some, and held it above Stu's head so he would kiss you."

"I...WHAT?"

"Yeah, it was so cute. But Stu was still little, so I'm guessing he still though girls had cooties or whatever. I think he told you girls were icky or something." she said, smiling. "But then you did the most awesome thing...instead of bursting into tears, like I'm sure most little girls would have done, you pulled his hair and told him that _real _gentlemen are never rude to ladies, and always follow the rules of mistletoe."

I gaped at her. Had I really been like that when I was _five_? I actually smiled at the thought of me pulling his hair...I had used that tactic just this afternoon. Only it was to get him to stop harassing me, instead of the opposite. "Did I actually say that? The thing about him not being a real gentleman?"

Ann chuckled. "Yeah, something like that. You were a piece of work, when you were younger. She paused, then smirked. "Not that you aren't now. In fact, I'd say you are even more stubborn and forceful now than you were back then. I wonder how Stu puts up with you, to be honest."

I scowled at her. "Oh yeah? Well, how about about Cliff? I'm surprised he hasn't run screaming whenever you go into one of your rages, or cleaning frenzies."

"To tell you the truth, so am I." Ann said, her eyes sparkling.

"Brave man." I commented.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "You better get going. It's starting to get dark." I turned on my stool to look out the window; she was right. There was barley any light left, and the flurries were coming down harder than ever. I sighed. "Meh. I don't want to go home."

"I'm guessing, since your head hasn't spontaneously combusted, that you haven't figured out a solution for anything yet?"

I groaned. "Don't remind me." I got up from the bar, zipping up my jacket. 'Thanks for listening to my angsty rant. Next time, bore me with your troubles, kay?"

"My troubles? Ha! What troubles?"I raised my eyebrows. Ann then started singing, extremely off key, "_Old man trouble, I don't mind him. You won't find him round my door!"_

I mock covered my ears. "What _is _that?"

She scowled at me. "Duh, its show tunes. _Crazy for You?" _I continued to give her a blank look, so she shook her head. "You poor, deprived child..."

"Why is everyone singing today, anyway?" I muttered. Ann smirked. "I'm sorry, would you prefer a Christmas Carol?" she then burst into, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.' I just laughed and started towards the door. "Bye, Ann."

"See ya, May. I'll just be here...alone..." Ann said with mock sadness. "And on Christmas Eve... Eve, too."

I just laughed again and walked out the door. I was unpleasantly met by a burst of snowy wind in my face. _Why does it have to be so cold? _I practically ran back to my house, nearly landing a face plant in a snow bank in front of the gate. Graceful, I know. When I finally reached home, I discovered that the whole house smelled delicious; like gingerbread and pumpkin. When I went into the kitchen, grandpa was baking-surprise- gingerbread cookies and pumpkin pie. "May, where have you been?"

"Nowhere." I shrugged, pulling off my jacket. "Why are you making all this, and when do I get to eat it?"

He frowned at my weak answer, but answered, "I'm making the desserts for tomorrow night's dinner. Now come here, you can use the cookie cutter."

I obeyed. I didn't particularly like baking; I was more interested in the eating part. But it gave me time to think. Grandpa only talked to give me an occasional instruction or correction, other than that it was silent as we worked. _What _am _gonna do with this mess of mine? _I thought grimly.

Well, obviously, there was nothing I could do about my mother. She was off in 'the city', (Seriously. She never bothered to specify _which_ city. But I suspect New York.) and too far away for me to talk face to face. Besides, what could I do about her anyway? What would I say? "Hey mom, you know it makes me really sad whenever you say you're not coming back, so could you just stop being a drug dealer or whatever and come back to take care of me? Thanks, that'd be great."

Ha. I can imagine how well that would go over.

And then there was Stu. Now that I wasn't in the midst of a breakdown, I knew that he most likely did not say anything to Manna. I felt stupid for believing it now; information from Lead couldn't be trusted. I was gonna _have _to do something about him, unless I wanted another four year long fight. I knew he must be really pissed, me basically saying I was sick of him. Which most definitely wasn't true, by the way. I need to learn to control my big mouth.

I guess my only option was to beg for forgiveness. Degrading, I know, but there were no other brilliant ideas popping into my head. I was just putting the gingerbread cookies in the oven when I noticed a little green plant hanging off the doorknob.

"Grandpa, what's that?" He looked up from the pie crust he was filling to where I was pointing. "Oh, that's mistletoe. You know, just a little fake one for decoration."

I stared at the little plastic plant. Because suddenly, and idea _had _popped into my head. But brilliant, it was not. It was the dorkiest, stupidest, and most cheesy thing I could have possibly thought of.

But...there was a slim chance that it actually might work.

---

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

I winced at the shrillness of Leah's screamed greeting; Grandpa just looked at her like she was the most adorable thing in the world. "Merry Christmas to you too, young lady. Now where is your family, if I may ask?"

"They're in the living room." She said with a dazzling smile. Obviously an act for adults. "Are those cookies?"

I looked down at the plate I was holding. "Yup. Can I trust you to take them to the kitchen without eating any?" I asked, knowing that I very well could not. The girl's dark brown eyes lit up as I handed her the plate. "Okay, May!" she took off running into the house. I waited for the sound of something breaking, but thankfully it did not come.

"Sweet little girl, isn't she?" Grandpa said fondly as we followed after her. I responded with an uncommitted, "Mmm."

The house was set up nicely. A large, glittering tree stood on the corner with gifts underneath, and there were stockings on the fireplace. My guess is that the kids would be spending Christmas morning here. There was also the mouth watering smell of turkey, cooked by Elli no doubt. A group of people consisting of Tim, Elli, Ellen, and Kyle were in the living room. Stu was nowhere to be seen.

I did not take that as a good sign. Was he really so mad that he couldn't stand to see me? No... it was more likely he was just being a wimp. It was then that the family noticed we had arrived, and immediately got up to greet us.

"Barley, May!" Ellen said happily from her rocking chair. "I didn't even notice Leah had let you in! Where is that girl, by the way?"

A well timed smash came from the kitchen. "I'm okay!" Leah called. "I just, uh, dropped....my shoe!"

No one seemed to notice the lameness of her excuse. Elli got up and took the pumpkin pie from Grandpa. "Merry Christmas, Barley." She said, leaning down to kiss his cheek. Both Elli and I towered over Grandpa, since he was barely five feet tall. "How are you, May?"

I shrugged. "Fine." Elli was dressed in a long but nicely shaped green dress, and a headband to match. It made me feel underdressed. Grandpa had forced me to wear a 'classy' (which really meant dorky) red and green blouse with my normal jeans, But I still felt awkward. Even little Kyle had donned a cute red button up shirt and mini tie.

"Oh, where's Stu?" Elli asked, looking around. I stiffened, but she didn't seem to notice. "Stu! Our guests are here! Come down stairs!" she called to the upper level. There was a muffled shout in response. "What?"

"I SAID," Stu emerged from the staircase, looking annoyed. "I'm coming."

I know it sounds stupid, but my heart beat faster when I saw him. I know, but it's true. Stu just looked so..._hot _in his formal wear. Funnily enough, he was dressed in the same outfit as his nephew, but he obviously looked much better. His shirt was un-tucked and Elli hadn't been able to force tie on him, but he still looked uncomfortable.

"Aw, don't you look handsome." said Ellen fondly. "Like your father...I remember when you barely came up to your sister's waist!" Stu was well past Elli in height now; he was pushing six feet, as he loved to remind me of by constantly using my head as an armrest. My stupid heart still refused to shut up when I saw he hadn't bothered to comb his hair, so it still just fell into his eyes nicely.

"Hey, May." Stu said softly. I tugged at my annoying dress shirt uncomfortably. This was awkward. Not quite as awkward as during 'the Incident', but it was close. I mumbled a greeting and stared at my feet. I could tell he was probably giving me an expectant look, but I couldn't say anything now; not in front of his family. Awkward times a billion.

"How about we eat now?" asked the Doctor, speaking for the first time.

Dinner wasn't bad. Well, it depends on what you classify as bad. Kyle had decided that he didn't like stuffing or Brussels sprouts, and took to throwing them in every direction. Leah wouldn't shut up about each and everything she wanted for Christmas, and had a fit when some of her brother's discarded mashed potatoes landed on her. And to top it all off, halfway through dessert I knocked over Elli as she was carrying out the second pie. So, it wasn't bad as in uncomfortable, but pretty bad, well, overall. Elli and Tim needed to learn to control their children.

Once everyone had finished and I had cleaned up the pie, (which, by the way, was not an easy job. I don't know how pumpkin ended up on the _walls, _but it was a bitch to mop up) I knew now was the time to 'confront' Stu. Tim had told the kids they could open one present, so they were occupied. And Grandpa was helping Elli in the kitchen to wash the dishes. Stu was looking bored as his grandma told him stories about previous Christmas' from her childhood. I mentally prepared myself as I walked up to them.

"Hey," I said, daring to lightly touch Stu on the shoulder. He looked up."Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Uh, sure. Grandma?" Ellen didn't seem to hear him. She just kept going on about some necklace her husband gave her a million years ago. "GRANDMA?"

The old woman stopped talking, startled. "What is it, Stu?" It was only then that she seemed to notice I was there. "Oh, May. I didn't see you dear. Now what is it you wanted to say?"

"Um...I'm leaving now. To talk to May." Stu said slowly and loudly for his grandmother to understand. She seemed to get it. "Oh, alright dears. Stay out of trouble now." And then she did something really creepy. She _winked_. Now, seeing an old lady like Ellen winking is creepy enough. But what she was suggesting- to her _grandson_, none the less-was enough to make me shudder. _I am going to kill Manna..._

I led the way out the door and into the snowy outside. My hands suddenly felt clammy, my mouth dry. What _was_ I going to say to him? Nothing could justify my huge freak out. Unfortunately, instead of thinking it though, let my big do the talking. As soon as Stu had closed the door behind him, I blurted,  
"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For...for..." I recalled the incident on my birthday and nearly grinned. Judging by the look on his face, he remembered to. "Everything."

He was teasing me, I knew it. "Ah...I see."

He wasn't letting me off that easy, so I sighed. "Look. I know you didn't say anything to Manna."

"Correct."

"And I know it was really unfair for me to spaz out on you like that."

"Also correct."

"And I know that you are probably still really mad at me, so..."

"Hmm...not really, actually." He said, tracing a pattern in the snow with his foot. I looked at him like he had sprouted another head. "You're... not mad at me?"

"I was. But then I figured your side of the story did sound really bad, and something must have put you on the edge already." He grinned. 'Benefit of the doubt, I guess."

I was stunned. "You know me too well." I muttered, shaking my head. But thanks for understanding."

"I know. Aren't I the perfect boyfriend?"

I snorted. "Hardly. Besides, you know too much. I might just have to kill you."

Stu stuck his tongue out at me, but then turned serious again. "I was scared to talk to you, in case you'd bite my head off. But I didn't want another 'Incident'" he grimaced. "You're really intimidating, you know that?"

I glared at him. "You are such a wimp sometimes." I said, kicking some snow in his direction. Stu grinned goofily. I was relieved that he didn't hate me. Now, the impression the rest of the town had of us...we were going to have to do something about that.

"Oh, I almost forgot." I said, reaching into my blouse pocket (yes, the thing had pockets. Ew.) and pulled out my secret weapon, smirking. "What's that?" I threw it at him, but he caught it easily. "Mistletoe?"

"I was reminded of a little event involving that plant the other day." I said, trying to sound nonchalant. "I wanted to compare."

Stu looked confused for a second, and then he smirked. "Aren't you supposed to hold it above the person's head?" he asked, holding back out to me. I rolled my eyes. "Well, since you've seemed to have grown _again_, I don't really feel like reaching up there."

"Hmm, that's too bad. I guess I don't have to kiss you, then." He said casually, still smirking down at me. I glared at him.

He smiled innocently.

I sighed and sat down on the edge of the now frozen garden, casually picking up bits of snow and playing with it. "Guess not." I said with mock sadness. I felt a poke on my shoulder, and looked up.

Stu was holding the mistletoe above _my_ head.

It was beyond cute. _He _was beyond cute, with flakes of snow in his hair and a small smile on his face. I felt like standing up and throwing my arms around him. But then I got an idea - a very evil, diabolical idea. Instead of running over to kiss him, I stood up, leaving inches between us. And then I smashed my handful of snow right into his handsome face. "No thanks. Boys are ICKY."

And then I ran for my life.

**A/N: Well, there ya have it. Wow, that was **_**long. **_**Hopefully you got through it. :) I really need to write something other than oneshots...I hear by claim that my next post will be the beginning of a full length, kay? I would love to write a full length about May, but THAT would be overkill. I was also thinking about taking another stab at Sibling Rivalry. I was reading it over, and it's pretty cracky, but still alright. What do you guys think? Is it worth continuing?**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Kirstin~**


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